Expert: Jim Lawniczak - 8/29/2006

Question
My husband found mixed with some other pennnies one coin that apparently is a mixed of a penny (it shows the side of the House) and on the other side it is a dime (it shows the side with the scripture "one dime").
It does not have any year and the sides are shown on irregular form. Do you think it could be a real coin?

Answer
Hello, Guadalupe.  I am not really an expert in "error" coins, and it would be hard to tell if this is real without seeing it.  It is easy to put together different sides of coins -- magicians often do it -- with two heads or dime and cent as here, very useful for magic tricks.  But also there are very rare (and thus valuable) mint errors where two different denominations have come together.  You might look yourself at where the cent and dime come together -- if you see a seam, you'll now it was a manufactured job.  If you have any questions, you need to show the piece to an expert at a coin shop or a coin show.  Hope this helped, Jim Lawniczak